Basketball family lined up behind this 'Q'

January 08, 2008|AL LESAR Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- Rather than deal with an identity crisis in high school, Quadr Owens chose to define himself with artwork on his arms. Obscurity in high school would have been understandable for "Q", now a 6-foot-1, 180-pound freshman guard for Indiana University South Bend's basketball team. As a sophomore (2004-05) and junior (2005-06) at Lawrence North High School, he was a role player for one of the best Indiana prep basketball teams ever assembled. Owens was the defensive specialist who allowed present NBA players Greg Oden and Mike Conley to do what they do. "At first, it was very intimidating to try to fit in with that team," said Owens, who was a freshman watching when Oden and Conley won their first state title. "I had heard stories about how mean coach (Jack) Keefer was. But I figured, with everything I'd already gone through, I could handle it." Owens' life had been grounded in family. His father, Robert, who was in the Navy, died when Quadr was 3. Relatives rallied around Quadr, his sister and mother. When he was 11, an effort to provide "Q" with stability was made when he was adopted by Ricky and Luvina Hudson. Moves between Atlanta and Chicago were finished and his home was now Indianapolis. Tough times forged a determined young man. "Q" made sure he'll never forget. He had a faceless man holding a basketball tattooed on his left arm ("That's the gift my father left me," he said of the significance) and on his right is artwork that memorialized two special people -- his father and grandmother -- who have died. "My older relatives surrounded me," Owens said. "They put a basketball in my hand." He covets that ball to this day. He recognizes the fortune he had to come through a high school program at the right time. "In junior high, Brandon McDonald (another role player on the championship teams) was No. 1 (over Oden and Conley)," Owens recalled. "That shows you what coaching can do. Coach Keefer went to work on them and made them into the players they are." Owens is a similar project. His first two years on the varsity were spent focusing on defense. As a senior, when Oden and Conley matriculated to Ohio State, Owens was tabbed as the team's go-to scorer. Six games into the season, his role changed from scorer to playmaker when an injury forced a move to point guard. "We played so much that nothing took a big adjustment," Owens said. "We got two weeks off after the season was over, then we were back practicing, year-round. I was able to adjust to any role." He's been adjusting quite a bit in his first few months at IUSB. "We want 'Q' to be a scorer for us," IUSB coach Denny Parks said. "He's never really had that role before, so it's taken some time to get used to." While playing in 18 games so far this season, he has started his last three. Owens is averaging 14.8 points and 4.2 rebounds a game. "Being here, away from home, I've become a man," Owens said. "I've had to develop as a young man. People don't realize that you face some very good players at this level." None, though, better than the ones he played with for a couple years. "Mike was my guardian angel on the floor," Owens recalled of Conley, now playing for the Memphis Grizzlies. "I learned patience from him. He was so confident. No one was going to beat him and he knew it." Oden, meanwhile, provided comic relief. "Greg was the goofiest kid I knew," Owens said, still laughing at him. "When he gets on the court, he's like a man. He goes into a different mode. You don't want to get in his way." Oden, the NBA's top draft pick by Portland, is out for the entire season with a knee injury. "Coaches (in Portland) told him to take it easy in the weight room because he's getting too big," Owens said of Oden. "That's the kind of guy he is." Owens, meanwhile, is the kind of guy who can make a team better. "'Q' is a much better offensive player than I ever anticipated," Parks said. "He's never really had the opportunity to be a scorer before. He has the confidence to take anyone off the dribble. He's getting a chance to let his talent show up." A defining trait that doesn't need a tattoo.